Blaze Of Glory
by J.A. Swartz
Summary: The Ducati Vanguard takes the E.S.U.N by surprise and rises up against the known forces of peace. The Red Blaze Army, led by Quatre Winner and Trowa Barton, are the only ones that stand in their way. Reviewsopinions welcome!
1. Default Chapter

Gundam Wing: Blaze Of Glory 

**Part 1: Entrance**

**By Justin A. Swartz (jaswartz82yahoo.com)**

_Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its names, figures, places, and respective merchandise belong to Sunrise/Bandai and Yoshiyuki Tomino.  The Ducat Vanguard and the original mobile suits described in this story are of my creation and belong to me.  Any use of them without my permission is prohibited._

            Space was cold, Quatre decided.  Space had been very cold to him in the past, to all of the Gundam pilots.  Now that he was out in it again, after being colony-bound for most of his recent years, he decided that he hated it.  He hated what his world had become, he hated what he was doing, and he hated the people of Earth.

            Or rather, he hated those from Earth who bore the name of Ducat. 

            Yes, it was all Ducat's fault that this had started, wasn't it?  It had been nothing Quatre had done.  He still wasn't sure if he could have prevented it.  It was that endless argument of whether war was inevitable or whether war was an after-effect of a person's raging emotions.  Ducat had sought to suppress those emotions, and Quatre was in the midst of what he hated most because of it.

            Fighting this war was the last thing he wanted to do.  He knew that statement had two possible meanings: it could very well end up _being _the last thing that he did in his life.

            He tried not to think about it.  Instead, he thought about space.

            Space was cold, so very cold.

            "Quatre?"

            Quatre smiled into the monitor in his darkened cockpit.  It was Trowa, his friend and surrogate brother.

            "What is it, Trowa?"

            "Are you ready?"

            "No."

            "Neither am I," Trowa said evenly. 

            Beyond the asteroid belt they were hiding behind was something that frightened Quatre.  It was a mobile suit factory, a small one that was in the process of being upgraded into one of the larger Ducat complexes that housed all of their war technologies.  It had taken four years for the Ducat Vanguard to build their weapons of war against the Earth Sphere, but Quatre reminded himself that he was sitting within four years of research by the Sphere's top scientists.

            The _Guardian _was Quatre's specific mobile suit, designed to specifications supplied from their recent encounters after Ducat's declaration of war against the Earth Sphere.  There had been six struggles in all, with one continuing every day in lower Sudan, where resources were tight and Preventer agents were shrinking in number by the day.

            _Guardian _was designed in the new Earth Sphere red-and-white color scheme, and resembled a slimmer version of the now-destroyed Wing Gundam, minus the transformation capability.  Instead, it had been supplied with a backpack that had four rectangular protrusions from it, forming an "X" shape.  Quatre ran a test on the strike pack and it returned green, reminding him that each bar of the pack held four small beam cannons inside of it, and that they could be combined into a beam shield as well.

            Trowa's mobile suit, the _Defender_, resembled an updated version of an older mobile suit from the early A.C. calendar years, the _Guncannon_.  It used the same type of frame as Quatre's, but was boxier, looking more like something out of a comic book.  Trowa's specialty had always been bombardment and heavy firepower, and the _Defender _supplied him with that, opting for two large beam cannons on the shoulders and small beam gatlings located within the assemblies of the left and right forearms.  Hip-loaded missile launchers added to his long-range capability.

            It was just the two of them, the two leaders of the Earth Sphere Red Blaze Army.  They knew that real people would be inside these mobile suits they were facing…they knew that real people were inside that war factory.  They had made a promise to protect peace after the Eve Wars of A.C. 195, and they would do it by any means necessary, even if it meant killing those that had initiated the downfall of the peace.

            Quatre did an anxiety-inspired systems check.  Yes, the _Guardian _was ready.

            "Now, Trowa," Quatre said firmly.

            "Yes.  Now," Trowa responded.

            The two falling stars propelled themselves over their asteroid cover and towards the resource satellite M.O.-Eighteen. 

            It was the start of the After Colony year 201, and for the people working on the Ducat War Factory on that satellite, it was the last year they would ever see.

            The battle began with Trowa's missiles, aiming at the octagonal automated defense pods.  When the shrapnel from their explosions began to fly, the warning claxon blared inside and outside the factory.  Security was light in lieu of the large upgrading machines; it was a mistake Ducat would curse himself for later.

            The _Guardian _swung into position under a set of pods and wiped them from existence with its beam rifle, held in both steel hands.  As the noble head turned with glowing ruby eyes toward the satellite, a troop of six Vanguard mobile suits emerged.  They were the pentagonal-bodied _Infiltrators_, armed with small beam rifles and one with a large beam gatling.

            The gatling weapon turned on Quatre, scattering azure rays in his direction.  Using the small asteroids as cover, Quatre employed full power to the engines and darted between them, firing when he could and taking cover when he couldn't.  Trowa fared better on his demolition tumble: he had scattered the workers away from the brunt of his attack, which was focused on the hangar bays and main factories.

            Quatre could feel his old instincts coming back, rising inside of him and feeding his starving mind and body.  He activated the upper left strike bar, pouring beam fire on the remaining _Infiltrators_.  Emerald lines of light pierced through the thin armor and detonated the reactors, making a cloud of orange and white light against the stars.

            There was still the gatling one to deal with.  Quatre saw the wrap-around cockpit image rotate as he moved the _Guardian _through a loop, then brought it head-on with the gatling weapon.  He shuddered inside as he triggered all of the strike bars, and threw in his own beam rifle, reducing the suit and pilot to frozen ashes.

            The cockpit rotated again, enhancing an image for him automatically.  It was Trowa in his _Defender_, bombarding the facility with his cannons.  Two escape shuttles zipped through the burning remnants of the hangar bay and out into the stars. 

            In different circumstances, Quatre might have fired on those escape shuttles. 

            Yes, space was cold to him, to everyone, but _he _was not that cold.

            "Trowa, how do we look?" he radioed.

            "Not bad," his friend replied.  "Only one more round and we should be done here."

            "Good.  It looks like everyone evacuated."

            Trowa was silent for a moment.  Then:

"There are still people trapped in the research domes."

            Quatre tapped the keypad to his left and enhanced the whole satellite image.  Trowa was correct: there were several domes, some with power, some without, that were carrying on as if nothing had happened.

            "Have they sent any emergency signals?" Quatre asked.

            "Not yet, though I'm sure Ducat has signals we aren't monitoring."

            "True enough.  Let's leave them alone then."

            The mission objective was to leave no survivors, but…Quatre didn't agree with that.  Never had, and most likely, never would.  It came from his hatred for fighting.  As much as he hated what Ducat had done, that hatred was directed toward the man himself, not the Vanguard or the researchers who worked for them.

            There was a bright flash of light on the monitors, and Quatre saw the _Defender _pulling out from the satellite.  The War Factory was demolished, the wreckage separating from the asteroid itself and floating into separate pieces in space.

            "Mission accomplished?" Trowa inquired.

            "Accomplished," Quatre affirmed.  "Let's go home, Trowa."


	2. Part 2: Aftereffects

Gundam Wing: Blaze Of Glory Part 2: Aftereffects 

**By Justin A. Swartz (jaswartz82yahoo.com)**

_Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its names, figures, places, and respective merchandise belong to Sunrise/Bandai and Yoshiyuki Tomino.  The Ducat Vanguard, Alexia Rader, and the original mobile suits described in this story are of my creation and belong to me.  Any use of them without my permission is prohibited._

            Home was Preventer Base LQ-318, a satellite in the orbit of Venus.  LQ-318 was a fully functioning environment, minus the pseudo-sun and weather provided by the space colonies that both of the Gundam pilots had called home.  After pulling the _Guardian _into the always-bustling hangar bay, Quatre and Trowa were walking down one of the many peach-on-white corridors of the base when Alexia Rader walked their way.

            Alexia was a few years younger than Quatre, probably eighteen at the most, with her hair dyed a magnificent turquoise shade that shone in the warm lights of the hallway.  She was an upcoming mobile suit pilot, still learning the finer points of skill that came with years of true experience and endless practice.

            It was also clear that there was only one person her violet eyes wanted.

            "Evening, you two," she said pleasantly.  Her voice was a mixture of refined beauty and throwing back a few beers with the boys.  "Back from the mission, I see."

            Quatre nodded.  "It went well.  We were able to disable the base without harming too many people."

            Alexia smiled.  "You're too nice to be fighting, Quatre."

            "That's what everyone tells me," the blonde pilot said back.  He couldn't deny the facts as his green eyes danced over Alexia's lithe frame: he liked her a lot.  At the very least, he was attracted to her.  Heck, anyone would have been, he decided.

            "How's training with Agent Noin?" Trowa asked.

            "Rough.  I know she cuts me some slack because I'm new, but I wish she wouldn't.  I like the challenges she puts me to."  Alexia frowned.  "It's Lady Une that I can't stand."

            Quatre and Trowa said nothing.  Neither of them liked it when Alexia was starting on one of her "Une Trips."  It seemed like one of them was starting to brew, as the violet in Alexia's eyes was flickering like flames, but it died down suddenly.

            "Oh well, not much time to argue about that.  Got to get some chow and head back for more suit training."  She started to move past them.  "Glad you made it back safe, Quatre," she said softly, a teasing smile on her lips.

            Quatre couldn't hide the blush in his cheeks.  He wasn't used to that kind of attention, even now in his more mature years.  Alexia smiled wider when she noticed the red growing across his face, and silently made her way down an opposite hallway and out of sight.

            The pilot did notice one thing.  It was the way Trowa's eyes never left Alexia's throughout the entire conversation, and even when she was leaving.  He had never given it much thought, but…could Trowa…no, not the silent gentleman with the devotion to his carefree sister back in the colonies.  He couldn't be.

            Quatre did keep it filed away in the rolodex of his mind for later referencing, though.  At the very least, he thought, he could tease Trowa about it someday while they were waiting for their suits to be prepped.

            They continued their trek throughout the base and toward their individual quarters when Lucrezia Noin burst past them in a streak of Preventer blue.  Quatre caught her arm gently and got her attention.  Her eyes were wide in shock and her breathing was erratic.

            "Miss Noin, what's going on?" he asked, his senses beginning to trigger alarms in his head.

            "Quatre, Trowa!  You have to see the newsfeed from Earth!" she exclaimed, and pulled both of the pilots down the hallway with her and up to a flatscreen monitor inset into the wall.  She tapped a few colored buttons next to it, and it sprang to life with the image of the man Quatre hated the most.

            Ducat Libreiel, the leader of the Ducat Vanguard.

            He was making a statement on the mission the two pilots had just returned from, with images displayed from cameras Quatre realized must have been hidden within the asteroids.  It was displaying the small battle played out there, but there was one image that sent Quatre's heart into raging, molten flames.

            It was the research domes exploding, one by one, sending all of the unsuspecting researchers inside of it to their gruesome deaths.  It was a clever ruse, created by video editing tricks and Ducat sacrificing even his own people for the sake of his vendetta.

             The screen was replaced with the image of Ducat as he continued his speech.  He was a slim-framed man of forty-some years, with ivory hair down to his neck and a scar across his right cheek that the publicist explained he had suffered while trying to save a woman from being raped.  His angular face bespoke of intelligence and deductive reasoning beyond those of mortal men.

            "…and this example only shows you the lengths at which the Red Blaze Army and the Preventers of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation will go until all that is left of the rightful Ducat Vanguard is myself.  They have spared no mercy on this base, while I continue to show mercy on their haggard forces in Sudan, where they have eliminated all power among the populous, all water lines, and all other forms of communication, as evident in other news reports from Earth to the colonies.

            "This war will not end until one of us falls, and I, Ducat Libreiel of the Vanguard that bears my name, will _not _fall to any nation or man," the calculating man finished in his calm, chastising tone.

            Noin shut the monitor off and leaned her forehead against it. 

            "All those people…and now everyone thinks that you two are responsible," she said, turning around.  "Did you see anything suspicious on the sensors out there?"

            "Not at all," Quatre said honestly.  "We let most of the people evacuate."

            "I scattered the workers away who were upgrading the factory before I started my bombardment," Trowa added.  "That's just like him."

That was exactly why Quatre hated the man.  If Quatre allowed himself to dig deep into the dark side of himself, the side that had emerged during the conflict of A.C. 195, he knew that all it wanted was to take the _Guardian _and attack Ducat's main complex on Earth.  He wouldn't care that it was a suicide mission; he would do it with no regard for his life, or for how his loved ones and family would feel.

If just to free the world of that one man…he would give it his all.

            The reasons were still unclear as to why Ducat had declared war on the E.S.U.N., and his rise to power within the lower European providences was also something shrouded behinds curtains of mystery.  All anyone knew was that Ducat had developed his plan over four years of peace, and was currently holding Sudan in his killing fingers.

            After Quatre stopped by his quarters to change out of his flight suit, he decided that he would stop by Lady Une's office and see what she had come up with in regard to the Sudan problem.  If they didn't find a solution to the blackout situation in that area soon, more innocents were going to lose their lives, along with the diminishing Preventer forces.

            There was one other person that he needed to speak with as well.  An old friend, someone who might be able to tell him something about Ducat's background.

            He went by the codename of Heero Yuy.


End file.
